At the Midtown Cafe in Newton, Iowa, residents share ideas on tax breaks to green energy companies. Newton is transitioning from the headquarters of Maytag to the wind energy industry.

Conrad Schmidt/AP for The Boston Globe

“I wish I were 20 years younger," said Ron Helms, 70, "because I’d be hopping on this wind-energy thing, because I think it’s the future.”

Conrad Schmidt/AP for The Boston Globe

“It’s been a four-year fiasco,” said L.D. Palmer, 68. “I don’t trust the man [Obama]. I think he says things so he can hear himself talk, and I don’t know if there’s any substance behind what he says.”

Conrad Schmidt/AP for The Boston Globe

Gary Kaput, 68, a retired Maytag executive, said he isn't confident in the wind-energy industry. “We’re not replacing the type of wages and benefits that we had,” he said.

Conrad Schmidt/AP for The Boston Globe

Eunie Meyer, 45, is concerned about health care and women's issues. “He [Romney] doesn’t see women as individuals, I don’t believe," she said. ”The fact that all women are generalized as ‘binders,’ it just put a bad taste in my mouth."